EMMA AGU argues that Turaki’s invitation to Trump is a bold, patriotic call against democratic backsliding in Nigeria
If anyone had thought that the newly elected PDP Chairman, Tanimu Turaki’s invitation to Donald Trump and the international community to intervene in Nigeria’s disturbing political debacle would go unnoticed or unchallenged, such a person would be slumbering in dreamland.
If everyone else forgot, certainly it wouldn’t be the members of the vibrant media team of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu. Of course, such a response would be perfectly understandable given that any proposed action against Nigeria would touch off on his mandate!
Thus, I was not surprised when I read that Bayo Onanuga, the President’s fearless spokesman had described Turaki’s call as treasonable. For the avoidance of doubt, at his first meeting after his election last Saturday, Turaki had asked President Donald Trump to save Nigeria’s democracy. That invitation was actually a throwback to Trump’s subsisting threat to send ‘guns-a-blazing’, to stop what he described as Christian genocide in Nigeria. Trump’s allegation has been vehemently denied by the Federal Government.
Condemning the invitation to Trump and the United States into what is a mere intra-party squabble, Onanuga cautioned Turaki to take heed that ‘we would never forget’.
Onanuga would have been failing in his duty if he had not responded to Turaki’s invitation to Trump. As the President’s apex spokesperson (he speaks for the President while the information minister speaks for the government), any statement or action that touches on the nation’s sovereignty should be within his remit. However, Onanuga’s position raises a number of posers.
To start with, what was treasonable in Turaki’s call? For another, did Turaki step out of precedent in calling on Trump to intervene? Is this the first time that the Nigerian elite is calling on the United States to intervene, one way or the other, in Nigeria’s internal affairs? By the way, hasn’t Nigeria intervened in the internal affairs of other countries? Lastly, is a clarion call to the international community, of which Nigeria is part, to intervene in redirecting Nigeria’s convoluted democratic path not preferable to a resort to self-help by the people?
Before answering the above posers, it is important to understand the background to Turaki’s desperate invocation. Yes! You read me correctly. There is an active disagreement among leaders of the party who share divergent views on the direction that the party should follow. At the centre of the disagreement is the minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike who, as a former governor, has been a leading member of the party until his recent expulsion, at the party’s elective national convention, last Saturday, for anti-party activities.
Wike has all long insisted that he would back the incumbent President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in 2027, implying that his party would not field a candidate. If that is not anti-party, nothing else would qualify as one. The belief is that, despite pious pronouncements of goodwill towards the party, Wike’s real intentions have been to either control the party at all levels to achieve his goal or destabilize it through his surrogates. His suspension, with his surrogates, is seen as a last-ditch effort to rescue the party from total collapse and to provide Nigerians with an alternative platform that parades the organisational capacity, grassroots spread, institutional memory and possibly, the financial muscle to wrest power from the APC in 2027.
But it has been a tough battle. And there is a growing concern that what is playing out dangerously mimics the dark days of the First and Second Republics. On both occasions, the unguarded desire of the government in power to emasculate the opposition had sparked a chain of irreversible events that culminated in military coups. With some officers already in detention for acts prejudicial to military discipline, it can be said without any fear of contradiction that the country is now perching dangerously on the precipice of an implosion.
The only way out is a virile opposition. But virtually all the opposition parties are afflicted by one destabilizing virus or the other. To make matters worse, agencies of government that ought to mediate these crises seem to be either heavily compromised or comatose. With judicial, executive and other institutional bodies stacked heavily against those who wanted to keep the PDP alive, it is not surprising that Turaki, in his first public speech, called global attention to the dangerous situation in Nigeria.
Turaki’s concerns are not without justification. First, should democracy fail in Nigeria, it will be a very unfortunate drawback to the sustenance of democracy in Africa. If such a failure is accompanied with the ever-looming religious and ethnic conflict, the attendant refugee implosion and economic paralysis would travel beyond the West African sub-region. Such a prospect would also impact adversely on the global community. It is in this context that Turaki’s call should be regarded, not as a treasonable act as Onanuga has alleged, but as a genuine, patriotic and timely plea, to the global community, to avert the clear and present danger.
There are parallels in this regard. Prior to the collapse of the Second Republic, one of Nigeria’s most celebrated sages, Obafemi Awolowo’s warning that the ship of state was heading towards a rock was dismissed as the sour grapes by a bitter loser. Similarly, the collapse of the First Republic was also preceded by warnings that the actions of the ruling party in the Western region could throw the country into an irreversible cauldron. It was ignored. A state of emergency was declared in the West. The rest, as they say, is history.
In Rivers State where a state of emergency was declared by President Tinubu, and democratic institutions suspended for six months, ostensibly to satisfy Nyesom Wike, all appears to be quiet. The suit instituted by governors of PDP states challenging the declaration of the state of emergency has not been heard by the Supreme Court. In popular parlance, it has gone into voice mail. All appears to be quiet on the home front. Everywhere is peaceful. But some say, it is the peace of the graveyard. As we all know, that is not a healthy situation. That is why Turaki is shouting from the roof tops. Like the invocation to Paul in the Bible to come to Macedonia and save the people, Turaki is asking Trump to come over to Nigeria and save democracy.
Back to the treason allegation against Turaki. By calling on Trump, the United States and other developed countries to help us to avert the collapse of democracy, nothing in his entreaty differed from the call by Vice President Shettima on the United States, to collaborate with Nigeria to stamp out insecurity. The only difference is that while Shettima focused on insecurity, Turaki focused on democracy. I also see no difference between those who passionately enlist the support of the United States and other countries in combating hunger, disease, illiteracy and poverty and Turaki’s call for support to save democracy from the depredations of political bandits and autocrats masquerading as liberal democrats. If anything, it goes without saying that the more the democratic space, the greater the rate of development and by the same token, the less dependence on foreign aid.
While I am not in a position to predict how the PDP leadership saga will end, I am inclined to commend Turaki for stepping out boldly, unambiguously and patriotically in his very first encounter with the public after his election. Already, many commentators are applauding his maiden outing as evidence that the PDP is on the path to reclaiming its lost reputation as a formidable opposition platform that Nigerians can look up to as they navigate their way out of the present travails.
It is for the above reasons that the members of the Bala Mohammed-led PDP Governors Forum (PDPGF), the Board of Trustees led by former Senate President, Dr. Adolphus Wabara, party elders such as Prof Jerry Gana and Olabode George, among others, deserve commendation for their effort. Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde whose hosting of the convention left nothing to chance also deserves applause for his tenacity and consistency. Not left out is the chairman of the National Convention Organising Committee (NCOC) Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State. His last minute opposition to the suspension of Wike and others should not deny him the accolades he deserves for mounting such a superlative convention. Against all odds. The same goes for Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang as well as the dynamic Dauda Lawal, Governor of Zamfara State, whose inspirational and focused leadership has defied unprecedented insecurity and elite sabotage, to deliver laudable milestones across all benchmarks in infrastructure, education, people empowerment, health and social services.
Finally, rather than denigrate Turaki’s patriotic entreaty as a call to arms against Nigeria which he did not, it should be seen as the timely warning of a patriot against an impending catastrophe; an admonition to those who think that they are strong enough to ride the back of the tiger to remember that the only place to end up is the tiger’s bowels; that democracy only thrives where the freedom of speech and association are guaranteed. That is why his call should not be ignored.
Agu is a Veteran Journalist
